Control device for internal combustion engines



April 26, 1952. J. T. BRICE 1,855,594

CONTROL DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Filed July 21, 1930 25 fuel inlet control valve.

Patented Apr. 26, 1932 UNi'ren 'sra'rss PATENT mm] JOHN THOMAS BRICE, F FELLOWS, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR CF ONE-ldOIIRTI-I TO KANNE AND ONE-FOURTH TO M. E. LAKE, BOTH OF FELLOWS, CALIFORNIA, AND

ONE-FOURTH TO J". K. LILLY, OF BAKERSFIELD, CALIFORNIA CONTROL DEVICE FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES Application filed July 21, 1980. Serial 110,469,299.

My invention relates to a control device for power producing machines, and has particular reference to a control device for an speed independent of load. When such engines are to be utilized for producing power in which the load is applied more or less intermittently, great difiiculty is encountered in maintaining the constant speed operation of the engine, since the amount of fuelwhich 15. is required to maintain the speed under heavy load is far in excess of that required to maintain the same speed when the engine is idling,

or is under a much smaller load duty. While engines of this character are usually provided with governing devices which respond to the speed of the engine to control the fuel input into the engine automatically tothereby maintain the speed of the engine constant, such control is imposed upon the However, with such arrangement, the fuel required for the engine when idling is so minute'in comparison with that required when the engine is under full load, that the control valve must be substantially closed during the idling periods.

It is obvious, therefore, that at the instant at which the load is taken off the engine, the speed of the engine will suddenly increase, thereby closing the control valve with considerable force, some times to the extentthat the engine will become stalled. Then, when the speed is reduced, the valve opens again, and this process is repeated with the engine hunting for a considerable period of time,

40 during which the control valve is being constantly opened and closed with considerable force.

It is also frequently necessary to operate dilferent load devices at difierent speeds of operation. For example, it may be desirable to drive a heavy load at a relatively high speed while a diiferent set of devices constituting a lighter load desired to be driven at a considerably lower speed to require the employment of two engines, one for the heavy load and high speed andanother for the lighter. load andlower speed, is extremely costly. I V I It is therefore an object of my invention to adapt a relativelyheavy-duty engine to both heavy-duty loads at high speeds and lighter loadsat lower speeds with economy of fuel required. 7 i

It is another object of this invention'to provide a. control for a heavy-duty engine in which the fuel input supplied to the engine may be governedby either of two valves, one

for heavy-duty and the otherfor light-duty,

in which the light-duty valve-maybe auto matically governed to maintain the speed of the engine. at a lower rate than the normal rate of. the engine under heavy-duty. I

Another object ofiny. invention is to provide a control system for an engine employed under intermittent loadconditions, in which the engine. may be maintained at a substantially constant speed independent of the sud-- denness with which the load is'applied or re-' moved from theengine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an engine. of the character described with a system of control which is responsive to the speed of the engine in which, upon removal of all or a substantial part of the loadfrom the engine, it will cause the englue to idle at the desired speed without hunting. 7 Another object of the invention is to provide a control system for an engine having a main control valve for controlling the fuel applied thereto during the loaded condition of the engine and with an auxiliary valve for control device built in accordance with my invention; and

Figure 2 is a detail view, partly in sectlon,

of the control valves and bypass arrange-' ment constructed in accordance with my invention.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated an internal combustion engine 1 comprising a housing 2 in which is enclosed the cylinder, piston and other apparatus con stituting the various parts of the engine (not shown). I

Near the top of the housing 2, I have illustrated a fuel inlet opening 3, through which fuel may be supplied to the cylinder of the engine. Similarly, an exhaust outlet 4 is provided through which the exhaust gases from the engine may pass.

The fuel inlet 3 is connected as by means of a nipple 5 and elbow 6 and a second nipple 7 to a main control valve 9 which in turn is connected, as by means of a pipe 8, to a carbureter or other source from which mixed fuel may be supplied to the engine.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be observed that the main control valve 9 constitutes an inlet chamber 10 and an outlet chamber 10a separated by a butterfly valve 11 which seats upon a valve seat 12 toseparate said chambers so that gas or otherfue may not pass through the valve 9.

By rotating the butterfly valve 11, as by rotating itsshaft 13, the passage of gas or other fuel through the main valve 9 may be suitably controlled to adapt the quantity of fuel passed therethrough to the requirements of the engine 1 in driving the load which is placed thereon.

Referring again to Fig. 1, it will be observed that I have illustrated a governor 14 driven by' means of a governor-shaft 15 geared in any well-known manner to the drive-shaft 16 of the engine. The governor 14 will, therefore, be rotated at a speed proportional to the speed of the drive-shaft 16 of the engine. By connecting the moving portion 17 of the governor 14 to the shaft 13 of the main valve9', as by means of connecting ring 18, link 19 and crank-arm 20, it will be observed that the .butterfly valve 11 in the main valve 9 will be opened or closed in ac- V cordance with the. speed attained by the engine 1. The governor may be so arranged as to cause the proper amount of fuel to be supplied to the engine to make it operate at a predetermined speed when under full load conditions. correspondingly, when the load is removed from the engine, the speed thereof will increase and the governor will automatically operate to close the butterfly valve 11 to thus reduce the amount of fuel supplied and reduce the speed of the engine.

Since the volume of fuel which is required to operate the engine at a desired speed under full load is relatively great, the passage is driving its full load and when it is driving a lighter load is such that a condition of hammering of the butterfly valve 11 upon 7 its seat 12 will occur and will be repeated agreat number of times before the engine will settle down to a constant desired speed under no load conditions.

To prevent this hammering of the butterfly valve 11, I have provided a by-pass around the main valve 9 which comprises a nipple 21 which enters a passage 22 formedin the housing .of the main valve 9 at a point in advance of the butterfly valve 11. The nipple 21 is connected by suitable elbows and nipples 23, 24 and 25 and a union 26 to an auxiliaryvalve 27, which also may be of the butterfly type. The auxiliary valve 27 comprises a housing in which a gas passage 28 is formed and arranged to be completely obstructed by a butterfly member 29 which is fixed upon and rotates witha shaft 30.

The passage 28 through the auxiliary valve 27 communicates with an outlet opening to which is connected, by means of elbow 31, nipple 32 and elbow 33, an inlet opening 34 in the main valve 9 on the opposite side of the butterfly 11, to which the opening 22 is communicated. In other words, the opening 34 communicates with the main outlet of the main valve 9.

By suitably adjusting the positon of the butterfly 29 in the auxiliary valve 27, a pre determined gas passage is maintained around the butterfly 11 of the main valve 9. The predetermined passage may be suitably selected to produce the desired speed of the engine 1 when it is idling, so that under these conditions the butterfly 11 in the main valve 9 may be entirely closed by the governor 14 and yet a passage for fuel to the engine-is provided which is of suflicient size to keep the engine running at the desired constant speed.

By the employment of an arrangement of the character described, repeated tight closing and subsequent opening of the main valve is avoided because upon its first tight clos ing under the influence of the governor, the auxiliary gas passage is sufficient to hold the engine at the desired speed, and it does not, therefore, fall below that speed to cause the reopeningof the main valve 9.

Moreover, the same engine which is to be employed for heavy-duty operation at the desired speed may'also be employed for driving a lighter load at any desired speed by connecting the governor 14 to the lever 35 which controls the position of the butterfly 29 in the auxiliary valve 27. This may be accomplished by connecting the rod 19 to the lever 35, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 1. The auxiliary valve 27 will then pass a suflicient quantity of fuel to maintain the engine at the required speed while operating continuously under the lighter load.

Also the speed of the engine may be reduced if it is desired to operate the lighter load at a lower speed by adjusting the position of the butterfly 29 with reference to its operating lever 35 so that for any given position of the governor 1 s the butterfly 29 is in a more nearly closed position. Under these conditions the amount of fuel which is supplied by the auxiliary valve 27 will only be such as to cause operation of the engine. at the desired lower speed.

It should be understood that upon disconnection of the governor 14 from the main valve 9 the butterfly 11 of that valve is moved to its completely closed position so that thereafter the entire control of the engine is imposed by the auxiliary valve 27.

Moreover, should it become necessary to speed up the engine while under the control of the governor actuated auxiliary valve 27, the main valve 9 may be manually opened to admit a larger volume of fuel to the engine and thereby causing the same to speed up to any desired speed.

It will be obvious that with the arrangement herein set forth, a considerable saving of fuel is effected since the reduction in speed of the engine upon the removal of load therefrom is supplied instantaneously, and there is no loss of fuel due to the engine slowing down, accelerating, again slowing down, and repeating this operation over extended periods of time before it finally settles down to a constant speed operation. Also, it is obvious that the wear on the main valve 9, occasioned by the repeated opening and closing thereof upon reducing the load on the engine, is avoided since this valve closes once, speed of the engine is reduced to the desired speed, and the valve 9 again reopens just to that value which is required to keep the engine at the desired speed.

sary speed for varying the various operations for which power is produced by the engine.

While I have illustrated the preferred form of my invention, it is to be understood that I the foregoing description is for illustrative purposes only, and I do not desire to be limited by any of the details shown, except as defined in the appendedclaim.

I claim:

In combination with an engine to be operated under varying load conditions, a main valve for controlling the supply of fuel to said engine, means driven by the engine and responsive to the speed of said engine for controlling said main valve to maintain the speed of said engine substantially constant and a fuel by-pass around said main valve for supplying suflicient fuel to said engine to keep the same running when said main valve is closed, an auxiliary valve in said by-pass, and means for connecting said auxiliary valve to said speed responsive means.

Signed at Bakersfield, California, this 10th day of July, 1930.

JOHN THOMAS BRICE;

An additional advantage achieved by my invention is that the governor control of the engine is rapid and accurate, thereby presenting no excuse to workmen to tamper with the same, as frequently happens with the types of governor controls which are now in use and, in addition, the lack of wear on the main valve 9 allows this valve to remain in efficient condition over long periods of time, requiring fewer shut-downs of the engine for repairs.

Moreover, since the speed of the engine may be accurately controlled, the running speed of the engine may be adjusted more closely to the desired speed value than is practicable with present governor control arrangements, 

